


Carrying the flame

by snowynight



Category: Marvel
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Angst, First Time, M/M, POV Outsider
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-11
Updated: 2012-03-11
Packaged: 2017-11-01 19:08:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/360244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snowynight/pseuds/snowynight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A wizard helps Carol's city, and Carol in turn helps him get back the most important thing to his life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Carrying the flame

Once upon a time, there was a city in which laughter and music had not been heard for a long time. A sand storm came everyday and each day it covered a bit more of the city. People stayed because of love, fear and desperation, but hope had long been gone among them.  
  
Then one day a man came to the city. When the sand storm came again, he waved his hands in a complicated gesture and this was the first time the sand storm was stopped. People looked at him in surprise, but they still dared not to hope. They'd endured too much heartbreak.  
  
The next day, the city was surrounded by a forest, which sheltered the city from the sand storm. The man also taught people the skill and knowledge necessary to combat the sand storm. People were amazed by the man, and were grateful enough that they asked him to be their leader. But the man rejected. He said," I was not born a leader." But people still treated him as a great guest. Every door was open to him; everyone's special smile was reserved for him, but the man remained reserved and sad.  
  
One day a government official arrived with an army. People didn't recognize him at first --- they'd been deserted by their government for too long. But they had a bad inkling as to whom the official had come for --- surely not for them, --- but for the man, because magic had been banned from the country since the last king's reign, and magic users were to be killed on sight. Impulsively, the people blocked off the official and his men, sending a woman among them to inform the man who helped them so much to escape. They trusted the woman to do it because she was as sturdy as a rock.  
  
When the woman told the man to escape, the man refused. There was a sad glint in his eyes, and he said that life or death didn't mater to him any more. The woman knew that there was no time to argue. She knocked him down, tied him up, and carried him out of the city.  
  
When the man woke up again, he protested, but the woman said, "Listen! If you don’t have anything to live for, think of my city which sacrificed itself for you. Live for it."  
  
There was a weird glint in the man's eyes. "So much sacrifice..." But he obeyed the woman.  
  
Then the woman asked, "Do you have a name? I'm Carol, and I need something to address you."  
  
"I'm... Stark."  
  
"You don't happen to share a name with a legendary sorcerer, do you?"  
  
"Legend's unreliable, but Stark's my name."  
  
"Do you have a place to go?"  
  
"I want to go to... the Nolav Lake."  
  
"Any reason?"  
  
Stark was quiet again, so Carol didn't push. Their journey was long, their destination was far, so they needed rest.  
  
When Stark was asleep, Carol guarded the flame and thought of the legend surrounding the Lake. This was said to be the burial ground of the legendary king. She uncomfortably womdered whether there was a connection.  
  
On their journey, they encountered bandits, monsters, mercenaries and other menaces. But between Stark's magic and Carol's sword they managed to overcome the obstacles and they, if not became friends, at least trusted each other more.   
  
A pursuit caused them to run into a cave to hide themselves, and only then they found the cave was magical. Carol saw memories of her childhood, her love, and her battle crystallized before her, and never felt so exposed. Then she turned to Stark.  
  
Stark's memories were of places that Carol only heard about in old myths, battles fought in the epics, but more importantly, there was always a man's face, young, happy, and Stark looked at him with so much longing that Carol was sorry to intrude his privacy.  
  
But she had to ask anyway. "You're the legendary sorcerer. What have you been doing all this time when you could have been helping us?"  
  
"I'm imprisoned in a magic prison, by a power greater than me."  
  
Carol shuddered. There was nothing more horrible than being deprived of your freedom for who knew how much time.  
  
"Is the man showing here the legendary king?"  
  
"Yes. The one and only to us."  
  
"Are you lovers?" Carol had heard stories, songs...and saw the longing.  
  
"I love him as much as a friend, and he did too."  
  
Carol doubted it, but they had not much time now, so they set off for the Lake again.  
  
When they finally arrived at the Lake, Stark bowed down at its margins and dwelt there for a very long time. When Carol was about to say something, she heard the sound of horses, turned around and frowned. The enemy had come. She pulled out her sword, but the odds weren’t on her side.  
  
Stark said, "I don't want to fight you here. Go."  
  
The leader sneered at them, "You're just a puny person, and we're the legion!"  
  
Stark waved his hand, and he summoned thunderstorm and hail to attack the army. But it couldn't last for long, Carol thought, as he seemed exhausted.  
  
Then an arrow shot at Stark and he fell into the lake.  
  
Carol jumped into the lake, picked Stark up and carried him out urgently, but carefully. However, she had a feeling that it wasn't going to be enough.  
  
Then, suddenly, the lake shone. The light was strong enough that Carol needed to close her eyes.  
  
When the light disappeared, a man which bore the face Carol recognized from Stark's memory, only older, wiser, and worried, laid his hand on Stark. There was a ball of light around his hand and the wound healed.  
  
"Yours Majesty?" Carol couldn't help but say.  
  
"Call me Steve," the man said. He looked at the army. The soldiers quickly put down their weapons and saluted him. The leader seemed to be in so much shock that he fell down from the horse. No one helped him.  
  
"Steve?" Stark asked, opening his eyes and looking surprised.  
  
"Tony, I'm glad... You look thin. What's happened to you?"  
  
"Nothing worth mentioning," Stark said. He had his hands over Steve, as if checking whether he was real. "How come you're alive? It must be the lake's properties, and blood, and..."  
  
"You woke me up," Steve simply said.    
  
Carol didn't want to disturb the reunion, but she had to point out the fact,"Guys, a lot of people are here."  
  
Stark removed his hands from Steve and Carol could swear that there was a shade of blush on his face. But Steve kept holding Stark's hand and the way he looked at Stark showed that there was something much more than friendship between them.  
  
The reappearance of Steve didn’t immediately solve all the problems of the country, but things were getting better. And one day Carol came across them kissing.  
  
Carol smiled. It was also time for her to return to meet her girl. Wanda must have been waiting hard for her.  
  
The story of Stark, Steve and Carol didn't end here, but my scrolls were not enough to contain their adventure, so I'll end here.  
  



End file.
